Mind Games
by WynterSky
Summary: It was a bit ironic, Deidara thought, that he didn't want the voice in his head to think he was crazy.
1. Mind Games

Mind Games:

It all started in a manner that, while not quite mundane, was not nearly as extraordinary as such things are usually portrayed.

As a matter of fact, Deidara had just fallen off of a rock (under circumstances which he would never admit to anyone) and hit his head. At first, everything seemed just the same. Only after getting up, brushing himself off, and making sure no one had been looking in his direction at the time did he notice the other _presence_ in his mind.

_What's going on?_ He thought.

_That's what I want to know,_ the other voice said. _What are you doing in my head?_

_Excuse me? _You _are in _my_ head, un,_ Deidara retorted. By this point, the others were beginning to look at him strangely, so he blurted some excuse and dashed back inside to his room.

_I beg to differ, this is my mind,_ the other voice insisted. Deidara got the impression that it was female, and couldn't figure out whether to be disturbed by that or not.

_Is not_, he replied.

_Is too._

_Is not_.

_I can't believe I'm arguing with a voice in my head,_ they both said at once.

_Okay, let's try this again,_ the girl-voice said (thought? The terminology was confusing). _I'm Ino. Who're you?_

_I don't see how that's any of your business, un,_ Deidara shot back. _If I'm going insane, I'd much rather do it in private, thank you very much. Can you go away now, un?_

_Well…_the other voice sounded a little embarrassed. _I'm not really sure how I did this. I was doing a mind-transfer, and then I fell off a roof before Shikamaru could catch me. I mean, that's his _job_, he should have been looking, right?_

_Uh, sure…_Deidara replied, as that seemed to be the sort of answer Ino (it felt very strange putting a name to a voice only he could hear) expected. _So you can't turn it off?_

_Nope,_ Ino replied. _Right now I'm in the hospital, anyway, so I don't have anything else to do. I've told you about me; who are you?_

Deidara sighed. Part of him was annoyed by Ino's cavalier attitude about the whole situation, but another part didn't exactly mind having someone besides Sasori wanting to talk to him. _I'm Deidara, _he said.

_That's a good start,_ Ino said, her presence in his mind fluttering cheerily. _What do you like to—oh, hang on, my dad just got here, I think he'll be able to fix this._

_Oh._

_So, maybe we'll run into each other sometime?_

_Maybe, un._

The presence faded away, and Deidara fell back on his bed with a sigh. Even if they did meet again, how was he to recognize her? She could live hundreds of miles away, for all he knew. Still, something just felt _right_ about talking to her. Maybe it was a silly whim, but he wanted to really see her.

"Hey, Deidara! Come on!"

"Coming, Sasori!" Deidara yelled back through the door. Right now he had business to take care of; hopefully Ino wouldn't mind waiting.

...

[A/N: Yes, as you have probably guessed, this is a Deidara-and-Ino-are-siblings fic. I might make a sequel later, if you like this one.]


	2. Twenty Questions

Twenty Questions:

_Hey, are you there?_

Deidara jerked in surprise and nearly fell off the clay bird he was balanced on. _Ino?_

_Yup! Guess what? I figured out how to do this without giving myself a concussion!_

_That's nice…_ Deidara replied, looking down to see if Sasori had noticed him nearly fall. Apparently he hadn't, as the puppet was still making his way through the sand at the same pace.

They had a long way to go before they reached Suna, so Deidara wasn't averse to having someone to talk to. _So, what do you do?_ He asked. _I mean, I'm pretty sure you must be a ninja, but…_

_I'm not sure I should be telling you that…_ Ino thought back. _How do I know I can trust you?_

Well, if he was going crazy, at least his subconscious wasn't stupid. _Good point. _

_Why don't we just not talk about our occupations,_ Ino suggested. _I'm in a really boring meeting right now, so I don't really want to think about it anyway. How about we play twenty questions? I ask you ten questions, you ask me ten questions, and that makes twenty questions!_ There was a girlish little giggle at the end of the statement, and Deidara could almost picture a teasing face.

_Okay, sure,_ he agreed. _What do you do when you're not doing stuff that you'd rather not tell me about?_

_I help my parents run their flower shop,_ Ino replied. _What about you?_

_I, um, work with fireworks,_ Deidara replied. It was a bit ironic, he thought, that he didn't want the voice in his head to think he was crazy.

_Okay, my turn,_ Ino said. _What's your favorite color?_

_That's kind of a girly question, un, _Deidara thought before he could stop himself.

Ino giggled. _You're just complaining because you don't know the answer._

_I do so know what my favorite color is!_ Deidara protested.

_Oh really…_

_It's blue, un!_

_Okay, okay. My favorite color is lavender,_ Ino replied. _Now it's your turn to ask a question._

_Fine. What do you look like?_ Deidara asked.

_Hmmm. Well, I'm devastatingly beautiful, of course—_

_Of course._

_Now let me finish! But I'm also blond, and I wear my hair in a ponytail with bangs just on one side. They're really long, they actually cover one eye. And my eyes are blue. How about you?_

Deidara was too surprised to reply.

_Deidara?_ Ino thought after a little while. _Are you still there?_

_I'm here, un,_ Deidara replied. _It's just that…well, you just basically described me._

_So you're devastatingly beautiful? I'm surprised, you sound awfully masculine to me._

_No, I'm blond!_ Deidara retorted. _And I do my hair like you said. And I have blue eyes._

_That is too weird,_ Ino thought. _Hey, maybe we're related!_

_I doubt it,_ Deidara replied. _I don't have any family._

_Oh…um, I'm sorry._

_That's okay. Hey,_ Deidara added, as he noticed Sasori waving at him from the ground, _Listen, I've got to go._

_So soon?_

_I know, I'm sorry. Can you tell me how to do…whatever this is?_ Now that he had gotten another chance to talk to Ino, he didn't want to lose her again.

_Oh, sure. Okay, it's rabbit, rabbit, horse, tiger, and you focus your chakra to the front of your brain, if that makes any sense, and think about whoever you want to talk to. _

_Rabbit, rabbit, horse, tiger. Okay, I'll see you around…sort of, un._

_Mm-hmm. Bye-bye!_ Ino thought cheerfully, before her presence disappeared from Deidara's mind. He felt a little empty afterwards, and resolved to find time to talk to her again as soon as he and Sasori had fulfilled their objective.

How long could it take to take out one jinchuuriki, anyway?


	3. Chapter 3

[A/N: Gave up trying to think of a title for this chapter, sorry. But hey, at least I've updated something.]

Chapter 3:

Deidara sighed as he leaned back against the wall of his little room. Perhaps Sasori hadn't exactly been his friend, but he was the closest thing Deidara had had to one in a long time, and Deidara just felt dull and empty now that he was gone. Sure, he could go blow something up, but that would just make him remember all the times he'd argued with Sasori over art forms.

Stupid Sasori. Where had all of his proud words gotten him? Lying in pieces in the middle of a desert, where he very well might stay shattered until the sand buried him.

Deidara couldn't quite bring himself to say it served him right. After all, something similar could very well happen to him someday. That day might not be that far off, either.

It wasn't like he had wanted to join Akatsuki, anyway. If it wasn't for that Itachi he'd still be flying around doing freelance bombing for anyone who would pay him. That hadn't been the safest occupation, but people like him thrived on risk. It had been way more fun, too—why did they have to track down all the jinchuuriki anyway?

_Hey there! How you doing?_

Deidara actually jumped at the sudden intrusion on his consciousness. He hadn't been expecting it at all—he and Ino hadn't had any contact for a couple weeks—so the sudden cheery greeting had shaken him, especially since he had been trying to get used to being alone.

_Um,_ he thought lamely, _not so good…I guess._

Ino thankfully sounded much more subdued when she replied. _I'm sorry. What's wrong? You don't sound sick, and you don't have a headache or anything…_

_You can read my mind? _Deidara shot back sharply, immediately on edge. How many hundreds of secrets had he thought about since first meeting Ino?

_No,_ Ino answered, and Deidara relaxed. _I can sense a few physical things through our connection, that's all. Right now all that I can tell is that you're probably sitting down and that there's nothing wrong with your sense of balance. Are you going to tell me what happened?_

Sighing a little, Deidara thought about what he could say that wouldn't give things away. _I was out doing… things-I'd-rather-not-discuss…with a friend. Any then things went wrong. And now he's dead._

_Oh._ Ino's mind-voice sounded a bit surprised at Deidara's matter-of-fact statement. _I'm really sorry,_ she continued, her tone more subdued than its usual energetic chirp.

_It's okay, _Deidara replied, hoping Ino would take this as an end to the conversation. _He's just gone: I can deal with it. _

_But aren't you sad?_ Ino asked, sounding concerned.

_Sure I'm sad!_ Deidara shot back indignantly, a little surprised that this was the truth—he hadn't given this much thought yet. _I'm just being practical about it, okay?_

_You don't have to get so upset,_ Ino chided. _I'm only trying to—_

_Just leave me alone!_

There was instantaneous silence from Deidara's mental visitor. "Ino?" he said aloud. She might be a bit frustrating, but Deidara had liked the sense of companionship their conversations gave him. "Ino, I didn't mean it."

Ino didn't answer.

Had she even been real? Some of the things about her were too coincidental to be true—from her description, she basically looked just like him, and what were the chances of that? Maybe she was a mental construct and he had just destroyed her with his rejection.

Even if Ino wasn't a real girl, Deidara wouldn't have felt so alone with her there.


	4. Chapter 4

[A/N: Do you know what happens when I take an English class? I procrastinate! And do you know what that means? More fanfiction!]

Chapter 4:

A month went by without Deidara having the slightest contact from Ino. Sometimes he would try the method she had told him to create the mental link, but there was never a response. By this point, Deidara was fairly sure that Ino had never existed at all, that she had been nothing more than a construct of his imagination, conjured up since he hadn't had anyone else to confide in.

The leader had assigned Deidara a new partner, some freaky kid named Tobi. He wasn't as experienced as Sasori or even Deidara himself, so Deidara was stuck in charge. This wasn't something he was used to, and he didn't like the added responsibility.

Some days, when he just couldn't see the point of all he was doing, Deidara just wanted to end everything in one glorious explosion. While he spent some time planning, he never went through with it. He wasn't sure why; maybe he just didn't want to have Sasori say 'I told you so' from the grave.

One afternoon, he finally managed to ditch Tobi for a bit, and headed off to get some time by himself in a nearby town. Disguising his appearance and Akatsuki cloak with a henge, he spent a while wandering the streets and poking around market stalls. Eventually, he ended up in a quiet, out-of-the-way restaurant drinking green tea.

_Now if I could only find some fireworks, I could have some real fun,_ Deidara thought as he surveyed the menu. _But there's enough time for that after lunch._

It had been some time since Deidara had managed to have a meal without Tobi badgering him, so he took his time ordering. The pretty waitress had just headed back to the kitchen after taking down his choices when a stabbing pain in his head shook Deidara out of his good mood.

_What the…why now?_ he thought, closing his eyes and resting his head in his hands in an attempt to relieve the pain.

_Deidara? It's me._

"Ino!" Deidara gasped aloud, sitting bolt upright. _Don't go!_ he thought back quickly. _I'm sorry, about last time, I shouldn't have—_

_That can wait!_ Ino cut him off. Her thought-voice sounded wavery and a little frantic, and the connection was fuzzier than it usually was, making Ino's voice shift wildly in volume. _I don't know whether this will do any good, or if you're even real—_

_I am so real!_ Deidara thought, but he felt a bit relieved. He knew he was real, so if Ino was as confused about him as he was about her that made her likelihood of being real that much higher.

_—fine then. I don't know whether I should be doing this, but Chouji's hurt awful bad and Shikamaru can't hold them off much longer and my chakra's all gone and we need _HELP! Ino's voice had been rising to a shriek all through her speech and now trailed off with a choky, tearful gasp. _So please…_

Deidara was already standing, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head and the confused waitress staring at him as he rushed out the door. _Where are you?_ he asked, dropping his henge in order to put more towards his speed as he bounded across the rooftops towards where he had left his bird.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Thankfully, Ino had been coherent enough to give Deidara directions and landmarks he was fairly sure he could follow to her location. She and her friends were besieged in a cave situated in a mountainous region that was only a short ways by air from where Deidara was now.

By the time he made it to the bird, Deidara was panting from the sprint. _Calm down, Ino, it's going to be okay,_ he promised, jumping aboard the clay construct and willing it to fly. _I'll come help you, I promise._

Deidara had never been one for promises before, but right now all he wanted was to give Ino the will to hold on until he could make it to where she was.

_Thank you,_ Ino replied. _I'm going to break the contact now—I can't be distracted during a fight._

_I'll be there soon,_ Deidara assured her just before he felt the familiar tingle of their connection fade. Pushing the bird to greater speed, he soared upwards and surveyed the landscape ahead of him. The mountains stood darkly in the east, within the borders of Fire Country. Konoha was currently the village taking the most active course against the Akatsuki so the group had been told to avoid it except during missions. This time, though, it couldn't be helped.

…

After a half-hour of some of the fastest flying Deidara had ever done, he was close enough to dive down and begin navigating through the mountains. He was beginning to sense some chakra now, probably from the fight Ino was embroiled in. _Figures that she'd be a ninja._

Deidara took his hands away from their grip on the bird's back long enough to form the seals that would initiate their mental link. _I'm almost there,_ he thought at Ino.

There was no reply. _Ino, say something!_

_Hurts…can't…breathe,_ Ino thought, even her mental voice sounding choked and frantic.

Deidara didn't respond—he could sense Ino's own chakra now, recognizing it as the same he felt through their connection. Swinging the bird around in a sharp turn, he dove into the small canyon where Ino was.

Ino wasn't hard to spot, Deidara only had to look for bright blonde hair. Even though this was the first time Deidara had ever seen her, he was too busy to take in many other details besides the large man with his hands around Ino's neck.

Using a bomb might hurt the girl, so Deidara flung a knife into the man's back as he swooped past. A flurry of bird-bombs quickly drove the other attackers away.

"Bunch of cowards," Deidara muttered as he rose to look for a place to land. There were no plateaus nearby, so he guided the bird to a neat landing in the cave Ino and her friends had been fighting nearby.

Ino had disentangled herself from her dead assailant now, and was hurrying to aid the two boys with her. One of them merely looked exhausted from the fight, but the other was unconscious and bleeding badly.

Deidara took a deep breath. _This is it,_ he thought as he climbed off the bird and approached. "Ino?"

Ino turned with a smile of relief. No sooner had she laid eyes on him, however, than the smile vanished and she whipped out a kunai. "Who are you?" she growled.

"It's me, Deidara," Deidara said in some confusion. "I said I was coming…"

"You're—you're with the _Akatsuki?_" Ino gasped, her eyes going wide. "How could you, you…you lying _cad!_"

Deidara chided himself mentally; of course she would be frightened to see the cloak. He should have taken it off, but he had been in too much of a hurry to rescue Ino to think of that. "Ino, listen to me," he began, trying to take a step forward only to find himself frozen in place.

"An Akatsuki member could give us valuable information back in Konoha," said one of her teammates. He was apparently responsible for Deidara's current inability to move, although Deidara couldn't figure out what was causing it.

Ino stood up, her face hardening. "You're right, Shikamaru," she said, walking over to Deidara and grabbing him by the chin.

_Ino, I never meant—_Deidara began through their mental link.

_Shut up!_ Ino shot back with icy vehemence. _If you think you can get inside my head and trick me again, you're wrong!_

_Ino, please—_

Deidara didn't get a chance to finish the statement as a burst of Ino's familiar chakra flashed through his brain, making him black out.


	6. Chapter 6

[A/N: I've been making covers for all my stories, and I'm really proud of the one I made for Mind Games! Sorry to leave this story hanging for so long; the next chapter will hopefully follow very soon and it shouldn't take too many more for it to be complete.]

Chapter 6:

Deidara came to slowly, his head flaring with pain. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying on a cold stone floor. Chains rattled as he moved one hand, telling him everything else he needed to know.

"And now I'm locked up," he said, his voice echoing through the cell. "Great." The words hung mockingly in the still air, and Deidara quickly decided that talking to himself was a bad idea.

His head spun as he attempted to rise, so Deidara slowly moved into a position where he was sitting against the wall. _You idiot,_ he told himself angrily. _Thought you could be the big hero and save the girl, huh? Well look where that got you._

He'd really, honestly thought that maybe there had been something he could change—maybe his life wasn't meant to be an endless spree of destruction. There had never been anything he wanted to protect before (except himself, maybe) but with Ino, he had just wanted to keep her safe.

_I guess she really had me wrapped around her little finger,_ he realized. _She must have been laying a trap ever since we met—it was all too coincidental._

Ino had said it was an accident, but that was honestly pretty hard to believe now. Because really, what kind of an accident would it take to create a mental link with someone several countries away? Of course, Ino had appeared to be surprised that he was with the Akatsuki, but Deidara knew better now than to believe anything she said. There was a reason he didn't have any true friends—after a while he'd gotten tired of being lied to, and Ino was just one more on the list of people who had turned against him. Sasori had been all right as far as he knew, but even then Deidara had never confided in him, wary until the end.

_I guess I should try to get out of here,_ Deidara thought finally, rousing himself out of his gloom enough to examine his chains and the cell surrounding him. He wasn't quite sure where he would go even if he did escape—if the Leader found out that he had basically walked up to a group of enemy ninja, he would immediately assume that Deidara had turned traitor. If he tried going back to the Akatsuki, they'd probably kill him on the spot.

His own clan would be no more welcoming. Not only was he a renegade and therefore a blight on their reputation, but he was the adopted son of the former clan head. Whoever had been responsible for the coup that had done away with his parents would ensure that Deidara could never pose any threat to their standing.

Deidara quickly discovered that his explosive clay was gone, not that he was surprised—anyone capturing him would have to be pretty dense to leave him with his most powerful weapon. Also, when he took a look at the metal cuffs around his wrists he realized that seals had been painted on his inner arms, effectively neutralizing his explosive techniques until the seals were deactivated. _They don't do things by halves here, do they?_

Standing up, Deidara checked how far the chains would permit him to move. He could walk a few feet, but not nearly far enough to reach the bars.

The act of standing had made his headache come back with a vengeance, and since escape seemed futile for now Deidara sat back down against the wall.

_Great. Now I've got nothing to do until they haul me off for questioning. And unless they've got some use for me once they're done with that…_Deidara quickly resolved not to follow that train of thought any further. However, it was quite obvious that, no matter how much he tried not to think about it, there was very little remaining for him to look forward to.

He had a very small amount of chakra left, so with nothing else to do (and somewhat against his better judgment) he formed the now-familiar series of four seals and waited for the mental sensation that would prove he had been successful in putting together the connection. This way he could at least kill some time before Konoha decided to work him over, and if he was really lucky he might be able to learn something that would help him get out of here.


	7. Chapter 7

[A/N: *Checks time since last update* Well, that's not as bad as some lapses I've had...this story is nearing its conclusion, I think.]

7.

The link went through and Deidara was sure Ino must have felt the connection as well, but there was nothing but stony silence from her end.

_Ino?_ He tried, wondering why he was trying to talk to the girl who had got him into this mess in the first place. _Are you still mad, un?_

_Leave me alone, you liar!_ Ino thought back: Deidara could feel the heat of her anger through the connection. _How dare you try and talk to me?_

Deidara had been sure she would react something like that, but it still hurt to hear it from her. _Well, the same to you then! _he replied, making sure she could feel his anger as well. _Look at you, playing the damsel in distress so you could get me thrown in your stinking Konoha prison!_

_It's not stinking, they put in new air fresheners every week,_ Ino responded randomly.

Deidara almost laughed before remembering that he was very, very angry with her. _Anyway, I don't see why I'm the bad guy here when I was only trying to help you—or did you even need help at all?_

_When I asked for help I didn't realize I was inviting _the Akatsuki_ into my village! How long were you waiting to pounce on me? _Ino snapped back at him.

_What? _You_ were the one who started all this, little miss 'I fell off a roof and accidentally mind-linked with someone thousands of miles away.' Seriously, how stupid did you think I was?_ Deidara realized just as he finished this statement that, however stupid Ino had thought he was, he really was that stupid considering how long he had believed her.

_I did not start it!_

_You did so!_

_Did not!_

_Did so!_

_SHUT UP! _Ino snarled and Deidara winced as he felt the raw fury she felt at him. _I don't have to take any more of this,_ she continued in an icily calm tone that was almost worse that the fury. _My dad's going to fix you, you wait and see._

_Your dad?_ Deidara thought weakly, hoping this didn't mean what he had a feeling it did.

_He's the head interrogator in Konoha,_ Ino informed him with false cheer. _Have fun!_

The connection vanished before Deidara could even try to think of a reply.

He was _dead—_He was _worse_ than dead. Ino's mental powers were already intense—her father would be able to rip his mind apart, and Ino would no doubt encourage him to do his worst. He would be a _vegetable_ by the time Konoha got around to executing him!

"I have to get out of here, un," Deidara muttered, but a few useless tugs against his chains and equally useless attempts to remove the seals on his chakra revealed that escape was just as impossible as it had been half an hour ago.

There was nothing to do but wait.

Sighing, Deidara pulled his knees up to his chest and tried to tell himself he wasn't afraid of what was going to happen. Hadn't he always planned on dying young, after all?

Still, he had come to realize that there was a very big difference between a glorious, ephemeral explosion into nothingness with no regrets (which was the way he had always planned to go out), and finally thinking he had something to live for only to be trapped and dragged to his death in an attempt to save that something. Not to mention the mental torture he was going to face beforehand.

Of course, he could just spill everything to the interrogators before they decided to go that far, but all he had left now was pride and tenacity, so even if he wanted to he wouldn't let himself do that. And either way it would all end with his execution.

Needless to say, by the time a Konoha jounin appeared in front of his cell—a small woman with sharp brown eyes and a spiky ponytail of purple hair—Deidara was feeling quite depressed. He rallied slightly when he realized that to drag him to the interrogation room, she would have to first release him from his restraints.

He sat docilely against the wall until the second cuff was unlocked, then swung into action, trying to kick the kunoichi's feet out from under her before bolting for the door.

As Deidara's plans tended to go it was no worse than most, but he failed to account for the fact that after sitting in chains for so long he would be unable to move quickly enough to actually get out of the cell before the Konoha kunoichi regained her footing.

"Nice try, kid," she declared cheerfully, giving his hair a sharp yank as she sat on his back, "but we've got tons of fun questions to ask so it would be rude of you to leave early!"

Deidara tried to think of a smart remark in return but came up with nothing. His last chance was gone, he realized sickly as she pulled him to his feet, dragging him out of the cell towards a windowless metal door at the end of the prison corridor.


End file.
